“My best friend … was headed to Cal State Chico and wanted me to join him,” writes Len Jessup. “My dad, however, strongly advised me to think about getting a good civil service job like he had….” Not quite confident enough, Jessup first attended a community college near their home in Fort Jones. But eventually he graduated with an MBA from Chico State in 1985, and over the years an extraordinary series of leadership opportunities opened up for him.
He retired in 2024, having been “a two-time business school dean and a two-time university president. … On the other hand, in many ways, I’m still that quirky Italian squirt, the son of a fireman, the grandson of Italian immigrants, still unsure, still working on my confidence, continuing to want to learn and grow and to be in service to others.”
“Self Less: Lessons Learned From A Life Devoted To Servant Leadership, In Five Acts” ($24.99 in hardcover from Forbes Books; also for Amazon Kindle) asks readers to think of “self” as a verb. Over time “I was starting to ‘self less,’ to act less in my own self-interests and proactively do more for others.”
Pithy chapters chart not just Jessup’s many teamwork successes, but also the low points in his life, like the breakup of his first marriage. Yet becoming a single dad forced him to “self less.”
The first act, “Origins,” is self-reflective, acknowledging family influence, especially from his father; “Beliefs,” is about forming a team which believes in the dream; “Adversity” deals with often subtle resistance to a project; “Impact” focuses on what can be done, not who gets credit; “Legacy” is about philanthropy, about a vision that will outlast an individual.
Jessup embodies his life purpose: “When I get to the end of my path, I want to be able to look back in that moment and know that I did everything I possibly could, to positively impact as many people as I possibly could, and that I never shied away from an opportunity to do so.”
The young man lacking self-confidence became a wiser man who developed confidence in others.
Dan Barnett teaches philosophy at Butte College. Send review requests to [email protected]. Columns archived at https://barnetto.substack.com
